My Danish Bread Secret

by Brittany Shoot

“My bread secret is actually my Danish partner’s bread secret. He just knows more about good bread than I do.

He likes to tell a story about a middle school teacher who inspired him to think about bread in a different way. One of his life philosophies was that every person should be allowed one small luxury, and no one should be allowed to question it. His luxury was to only eat fresh bread. He went to the baker every morning.

During the three years we lived in Denmark, we spent what was probably a rather high relative percentage of our meager income on good bread and baked goods from Lagkagehuset and La Baguette. (In San Francisco, we go to Andersen Bakery, which is fine but not at all the same.) On average, we paid $6 for a hearty wheat or light sourdough loaf that would last several days. I’d pay somewhere between a dollar or two for cibatta buns, one of which was more than enough for my breakfast. A block of Danish black rye might have been cheaper, but I never really got hooked on the stuff. The not very well kept secret was that the small luxury made us happy, and that in addition to all the pickled herring pate and New Nordic foam-topped bark that the kids rave about, the Danes know their bread. Great Danes, great bread.

We have no secret to keeping the cost down, though it’s worth pointing out that if a society prioritizes something and everyone consumes it, costs may be/stay low.” — Brittany Shoot

Any and all secrets about anything/everything — but maybe not bread, I think we’re nearly there with the world’s inventory of bread secrets — should be sent to: logan@thebillfold.com

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